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the middle ladder is usually considered a trap that distracts from being "sociopath but Good-ish", but in church's essay it's actually aspirational what i suspect is that maximizing for interestingness actually IS clueless but can self-delude as enlightened sociopathy

church himself, like many academically-mindeds see through the system. this "seeing through" deludes into a belief in transcendence even though its something the losers already intuitively know (they just can't articulate it)

there feels like a very common trap where people who SEEM like they should be wealthy/powerful aren't despite their cultural influence being very high within the wealthy/powerful class

it is eerily similar to how many dharma-addicts know massive amounts of knowledge on all things spiritual but cannot seem to do anything else except talk about more and more spirituality.https://twitter.com/a_yawning_cat/status/1328968605791260672?s=20 …

it's like someone who can get a perfect 100% on every single test you throw at them but is always useless in a real life scenario that isn't gamified into something they're comfortable with. they SEEM to understand everything.

i suspect this stems from a partially correct understanding that reality IS interesting. thus by maximizing interestingness you DO get closer to reality rather than disconnecting from it however it ignores how "you" are also part of realityhttps://twitter.com/a_yawning_cat/status/1349454307939127297?s=20 …

by being someone who is always "trying" to be interesting you define yourself as someone who is NOT interesting and thus splice off (a fairly important!) part of reality(yourself) as "not interesting"

so while the interesting addicts look down at the losers as "warm fuzzy" addicts while imagining that they themselves have transcended to a virtuous form of sociopathy, perhaps they are just trapped just the same as michael scott. the traps are just far more complex.

the interiority of cluelessness for e.g. doesn't feel all that bad. it feels like BEING ENTERTAINED all the time. it's like advanced michael scott scoffing at basic michael scott "lol he thinks game of thrones references are funny but i use rick & morty references"

"you shouldn't be entertained b/c what i know is MORE entertaining, thus you are clueless while i understand the truer reality because of my more sophisticated understanding of what entertainment is"

what the clueless don't see is the majority doesn't care about interestingness. it is a specific cope that only works in specific circumstances in specific environments. proper integration into social reality requires the ability to savor warm fuzzieshttps://twitter.com/a_yawning_cat/status/1333339180601020416?s=20 …

however they are unwilling to fully step into the will-to-power realm of sociopathy and so sorta half ass it by creating an enlightened realm of cluelessness that passes for a redefinition of Enlightenment with a capital E.

THIS I suspect is the hidden undercurrent behind a lot of post-rationalist discourse that no one mentions explicitly, the dance with thoughts of suicide.

just as one suspects that michael scott MUST keep up his self-delusion because he would fall into an abyss otherwise, interestingness MUST be a virtue because otherwise life would be meaningness and you would have to logically kill yourselfhttps://twitter.com/a_yawning_cat/status/1353413379784798209?s=20 …

every addict is the same. they are FULLY rational because the aspect of themselves that is in control feels like it will DIE if the addiction is not continued. this is fully rational. whether the addiction is heroine, cocaine, alcohol, sluttiness, a cult, sex, money, etc...

promiscuity for e.g. has a one way ratcheting effect because you can't back out of it. you already lose your reputation so ur only way forward 2 not die socially is to hang out w/ lots of guys all the time. (girls r mean) sure it's just social death but it feels like REAL death

the emptiness that is addict's life without a constant injection of interestingness or heroine is similar. it is VERY scary.

thus interesting-addicts are constantly looking for the next fix. rationalizing that it's to better their position in life while being mysteriously thwarted that application of their interestingness leads to no money thus requiring MORE interestingness to fix the problem.

there is ONE non-negotiable requirement that is necessary to fully step into the waters of sociopathy and learn to swim (rather than dip a toe and call it a life) and that is not to question the right to existence. (e.g w/ a habit of dissecting everything)

this is what connects normie losers with sociopaths & y they seem to "see" the same world. losers don't question the right to existence as well. that's why they can so easily start families and have children without too much angst